Little Wonders
by JessenoSabaku
Summary: Now that they had a family, they thought, "what else is there?" And more importantly, "if there's anything else, would it matter?" NaruHina, GaaLee. Legit pairings! No, seriously, they're not just implied! Family-centered. Requested by Skitter160. Some cussing, I think? But it's probably alright to rate it K.


**Disclaimer: Naruto is the brainchild of Kishimoto-sama, and I am not worthy. I merely borrow the manga's characters and situations, and make no money off of them.**

**Please support the official release.**

INTRODUCTION: For quite some time, my fan-fiction page has been devoid of new requested stories. But guess what I've just uploaded? (Go on! Guess!) Thanks to Skitter160, who wrote me some very nice compliments on my work, I'm back in business bringing another request served straight to your face area. This is also my first work where the pairings are not implied—they're legit!

Now, Skitters was very specific about the basic plot to this story, so I actually had a solidified direction for once. Hopefully it helped the writing! Please go support Skitter160 and their wonderful ideas by going to their FF page and reading their stories.

But before that, see one of those ideas in action! Enjoy.

**(XXX)**

Even now, Naruto could smell rosemary in the air, and the tension that came with it. He could still feel Hiashi's glaring daggers at the back of his head, pinning him to the spot, as if he would run away from the beautiful bride beside him, dressed in flowing white. Sure, his legs were trembling, but not out of the need to get away, rather out of need to breathe. The anxiety, the pressure, and the stuffy air were killing him. Incense was tossed all around, smells and sounds conflicted until he thought his head would swell until it burst through his skull. Every Hyuuga in the room was looking at him, even though it was the bride they were marrying off. He was the epicenter on which every accusatory stare, wary glance, and disgusted face was turned. He would've collapsed underneath the weight of their disappointment and anger just walking down the aisle, had it not been for his best man, Lee, who gave his hand a squeeze as he neared the altar and gestured with a chin towards their friends gathered in the front row. With nervous but supportive smiles, they all reminded him that even if his in-laws tried to maim him from behind, he'd at least get a warning shout from his friends to duck.

However, getting to the altar was one thing. Being there in front of it, with your heart in your hands and thoughts of the future in your head, was a completely different problem. The white trimmings and decorations covering the walls, the flowers and the priest and the heart-felt vows—none of these bright things could replace that dark uneasiness. All his life Naruto had struggled to find somebody to love him, and found no one. He'd lived without the love and care of parents in an orphanage until he was eighteen, and then lived without the support of friends and family for a few more years after being thrown out into the world. Now that he had friends, and was suddenly joining in holy matrimony with a woman he was to love forever, he had to wonder if he could last as a husband.

Not to say he didn't love his fiancée—he truly did. If marriages could be carried just on the wings of love, he would be fine. But his job was crappy, his childhood was crappy, and his life was just plain shit. He'd hardly managed to get himself together when this woman had come barreling into his life and, unwittingly, blasted everything apart again. He loved her, sure, he loved everything about her, but how was he supposed to help take care of her? And when they had children, what about them? Would he be able to feed them and cloth them, or even more importantly, love them the way a parent should love his child? He didn't know what a parent-child relationship was like, since he'd never had one. So how was he supposed to raise a gaggle of rug-rats like a proper, normal man should?

He wanted some time to gather the shattered remains of his life so his family would not have to trudge through it with him, cutting their feet on the shards. But he'd said something that could not be forgotten, and done something that could not be undone, and there is such a thing as taking responsibility.

When he turned to his bride to exchange rings with her, he was so dizzy he could barely hear what the priest was saying, could only feel his own lips move dumbly, reciting the words he was told.

He faintly heard a soft, lovely, feminine voice say, "In sickness and in health …"

He loved her. He really did. And if it was just her that he had to worry about, he might have jumped right into this marriage without a qualm, while shaking all the unpleasant stares from his shoulders. He knew that right now, he should be staring lovingly into the eyes of the only person on Earth that could fill every day with joy, listening intently to every word, with tears spilling down his cheeks.

But so help him, the only thing he could do was stare at her stomach, protruding from her silky, expensive gown, and speculate on that frightening moment due in nine months.

"… As long as we both shall live."

**(XXX)**

"Have you prepared the baby's formula?" Hiashi asked gruffly, following Naruto into the kitchen with stiff importance, like he was leading an army—which, in some ways, he was. Naruto at the head of their four-man fleet, holding his young Private Minato by the hand and Hinako, the giggling, dribbling rookie soldier bundled up in his other arm.

"Yes," Naruto answered, rolling his blue eyes skyward.

The rookie reached out and gave a tug on lengthening blonde locks, her stubby hands just barely finding purchase, as Hiashi hovered behind sternly going through his checklist. "Diapers?"

"Hinata's getting some from the store right now."

"Clothes, toys, clean-up items, baby lotion?"

"Check, yes, _duh_, and, um, what?" Naruto turned and looked at Hiashi quizzically. "Baby lotion?"

"Studies show babies lose twice as much moisture during the day than adults," Hiashi said, arms crossed.

_I guess even the old man can be a mother hen. How do you like that?_ "Look, it's not like Hinako is a pot roast or something. She's plenty … moist." Naruto let go of Minato long enough to tickle the baby's stomach. "Your Grandpa's one big goose, isn't he?" There were many other names he'd like to assign his father-in-law, but his thoughts flew away and a smile stretched his whiskered cheeks when Hinako giggled and pulled his fingers up into her mouth. She was like a doll, six months old with her blonde hair already almost past her ears. Her eyes were blue too, just like Naruto, but undoubtedly, she had her mother's lovely porcelain face. Minato, who whined and tugged at Naruto's pants, was rather tall for his age and had the same blonde hair, but with a bluish tint, his father's cheekbones, his mother's eyes, and the relentless demand for attention that Hiashi had.

"Just stay calm. Hinata will help make sure you have everything you need to take care of the kids. We'll only be gone a couple of days. You've already had two daughters, so I'm sure you can take care of these curtain-crawlers." Naruto handed Hinako off to her grandfather. "Hinata and I have already written the emergency numbers on the fridge, and if you need an extra pair of hands, just ask Hanabi-chan to help you."

"I just think you should take your role as a parent more seriously," Hiashi began harshly, but as Naruto hoped, his tone softened when he took the child into his arms and began gently rocking her. "You can't always rely on Hinata to look after the children. Or me, for that matter."

"Don't you think I know that?" Naruto groaned in exasperation. He picked up Minato, who was now clawing at his father's legs with all his six-year-old might, and lifted the little boy onto his shoulders. "Look, I'm just as worried as you are. You aren't the only one who was dropped right into a crazy situation."

"That's why I'm trying to _help_ you."

"You're 'helping' me where I don't need to be helped," Naruto said, fishing out a snack from the pantry for Minato. "Maybe if you were offering me a job at your law firm, or lending me a year's worth of money in diapers, we wouldn't be butting heads. I can love my kids, feed them, play with them, and change them when they make a mess. I can take care of them."

There was thick silence for a few moments, both men standing awkwardly without looking at each other, no sound other than Hinako making cute, sleepy noises.

"Where did you say you were going again?" Hiashi asked solemnly.

Feeling like he suddenly had too much weight on his shoulders, Naruto pulled Minato off and and set him down at the kitchen table. "My godfather passed away over the weekend, and I'm the only family he has, so I need to take care of the funeral arrangements, find out what's in his will, and what's going to happen to whatever he hasn't distributed through the will." He looked up at Hiashi. "I didn't want the kids to be around for something like that. Especially not the funeral."

For what felt like the first time, Hiashi nodded in understanding. Again, there was a long pause. Naruto moved to the sink and a pile of dirty dishes, starting to wash them. He half expected Hiashi to put the baby down and leave, but was surprised when the older man said with a downcast stare, "This godfather … he was important to you."

Only stopping for a moment, the running water filling what would have been more silence, Naruto continued washing dishes without facing his father-in-law. "His name was Jiraiya. He was a writer. My father named me after the main character in one of Jiraiya's books, so he's not technically my godfather, but …" He shrugged. "He took me in after Mom and Dad died and raised me. Even after Hinata and I got married, we'd carry on dumb traditions we made up when I was a kid, like every year on Golden Week, we'd travel different places during the week and make a list of everything golden we found. Or we'd eat popsicles right before lunch so we'd eat less in the afternoon and have room for a big meal in the evening." He smiled a little. "I don't think he was ever a very famous writer, or did much of anything important. It was just the little things about him."

"It's the little things in life that matter, in the end," Hiashi said. "Sometimes I have difficulty remembering that." As he glanced from child to child, trying to pretend like he hadn't realized what he'd just admitted, Naruto found himself smirking.

**(XXX)**

Stepping into the cozy living room of his two-bedroom apartment, feeling the lived-in comfort of such a tidy place that he rented at the cost of a back-breaking construction job and a weekend shift working security at Walker & Ramble, Lee breathed a deep sigh of relief as he let his suit jacket slip off his shoulders onto the couch. He heard the door close and the tumblers of the lock moving.

"Was a nice wedding," he called out towards the door as he fumbled with his tie, not expecting a response.

So when Gaara came around the corner talking, he was startled enough that he nearly knocked over the lamp next to the couch.

"Felt more like we were at a funeral," the red-head responded in his usual monotone. His green eyes flickered over to Lee and he gave him a long blank stare. "What are you doing?"

Somehow Lee had gotten his tie wrapped all around his hands trying to get it off. "Um …" He wiggled his fingers at Gaara. "Could you …?"

Whether Gaara's face had cracked the smallest of smirks or the thinnest of frowns, Lee was not sure. Either way, he still appreciated the tender care with which Gaara untangled him.

"The air certainly was stagnant," Lee agreed. "I thought Naruto was going to run from the altar out of fear of the looks he was receiving." Somewhere in the back of his mind, he realized that Gaara's grave countenance probably didn't help either, which caused a smirk to appear on his face before he could stop it.

"It's to be expected from a shotgun wedding," Gaara said frankly.

"Apparently the bride and groom are very excited for the child to be born, though," Lee said as Gaara finally freed him. He stretched his fingers. "Thank goodness for that much! In a few months they will have a little baby, and then soon after a toddler running around the house. I am certain they will take very good care of the child."

He thought to himself about what being an expecting father was like. To Naruto, it was probably a scary prospect, considering he'd just been thrown headlong into fatherhood and hadn't really planned for a pregnancy to happen. But Lee's favorite trait of a father was that he is a teacher to his children, raises and protects them so they can grow and eventually find their way on their own. And now, Naruto would get to experience that joy of being a father, and Lee would get to watch it happen.

As he began removing his suffocating formal clothes, Gaara watched Lee out of the corner of his eye with such a pointed stare that eventually Lee noticed. He gave a quizzical look in response.

"Is there something wrong?" Gaara asked.

"Huh?" Lee was genuinely taken aback. "Uh, not that I know of. Why?"

There was a pause before Gaara responded, "Your expression."

"Oh," Lee said. He hadn't expected Gaara to notice that his face had fallen. He'd hardly noticed it himself. "Well, I guess I just envy them a bit."

"… Uzumaki and Hyuuga?"

Chuckling, Lee said, "You can call them 'Naruto' and 'Hinata,' if you want."

He received no reaction other than a stare that Lee knew from experience meant that Gaara was waiting for him to continue his explanation. "Well …" He cleared his throat. "Sometimes I think it would be nice if I could have kids of my own someday. You know?"

When the two of them looked straight at each other, it was obvious they were on completely different wavelengths. "You want to continue your legacy," Gaara stated.

"Well, not so much that, as I just want … children. Kids of my own that I can raise and teach and love until I die, and then eventually, grandkids." Lee adjusted his collar awkwardly. "I mean, you might not feel the same way …"

"My own birth was of necessity to continue the family tree," Gaara said, his answer obviously meaning that he didn't understand Lee's sentiments. "I have trouble imagining procreating for the purpose of enjoyment."

"But all those little feet pitter-pattering around the house—would it not be a heart-warming sound?"

Gaara's eyes widened a fraction, seeming to imagine such a scenario, and Lee realized that no, the sound of footsteps probably wasn't his idea of a pleasant sound. Probably sounded too much like something chasing after him.

Lee grasped for another example. "What about the touch of little hands hugging you close? That would feel nice."

But with another shift of Gaara's expression, Lee realized that no, Gaara wasn't usually much for touching. He'd made an exception for Lee, of course, but even then not without plenty of awkwardness and anxiety at the beginning. He wasn't the kind of person to just take hugs and pats from other people either. Sometimes he reacted a little violently to displays of affection, too, like one time when Lee introduced him to a coworker who slapped him heartily on the back in greeting.

… He landed on his back, at least.

"Well, what about the 'I love you's' children so freely give?"

Immediately after saying that, Lee realized this was not an appealing thing to Gaara either. One of the things he had the most trouble with was the word 'love.' He had a hard time believing that 'love' was even a word, since it had been turned against him in many a sweet lie time and time again. For a few moments, Lee mentally relived the breakdown Gaara had the first time he said he loved him.

He sighed to himself. "I guess you are just not the family type, huh?"

Gaara gave him a long, unreadable stare, and Lee realized that he had something he was going to say, so he let the room be enveloped in silence while the red-haired man tried to puzzle out his words.

Eventually he said, "Does it bother you?"

"… Does what bother me?"

"That I am not the 'family type.'" Gaara's gaze was intense with a mixture of strong negative emotions. Lee could see this was going nowhere good.

"No, I am not really bothered …"

"But you just said that someday you want a family."

"I did say that, but—"

"And you said I am not the family type."

"You are not, this is true," Lee admitted, "but you have to consider the background you come from. You never really had the best childhood, or the closest family as a kid. So obviously, you're not used to what a regular family is like." Gaara was looking a little offended, but Lee remarked to himself that things could be progressing much worse. "Someday I would _like_ to have kids, and maybe someday, you will be more obliged to deal with children. But I do not _have_ to have children. I would much rather have you than children, if it came to that."

"So it doesn't bother you."

"I am not bothered," Lee said firmly. "Now, what do you say we change clothes, have some dinner, and then go to bed? You have to go meet Temari tomorrow morning, right?"

He'd already started walking away, undressing himself, and kept moving as he talked.

"It really doesn't bother you?" Gaara persisted.

"I am not bothered," Lee repeated. He stepped into their room where he stepped out of the rest of his clothes.

Standing completely still in front of the doorway, Gaara murmured "Liar." Then he walked into the room after Lee and shut the door.

**(XXX)**

When Hinata walked through the front door with grocery-laden arms, she was visibly surprised to see her husband standing at the stove with their son and daughter around his feet and a foreign child in his arms, all covered in cookie batter. Then again, Naruto was surprised to see her already covered in snowflakes. Setting everything down, she came up behind him and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Babysitting again?"

"I'm ashamed to say that I'm stealing a teenager's part-time job," he said with a grin. He turned to the child in his arms. "Say hi to Hinata."

Too flabbergasted by the presence of another unknown adult in the room, the child could only manage to bat at her with his stubby hand in greeting. She laughed and took the child's fingers in hers. "Looks like the kids are enjoying his company." She motioned for Naruto to pass the child over to her and started to clean him gently with a wet wash-rag. "By the way, I understand Father came by for a visit today."

"Yeah, he did," Naruto responded, picking up Minato and poking his nose. "Your grandfather is crazy, isn't he?" He received a laugh in what felt like assent.

Hinata looked concerned. "Don't worry," Naruto said, "He didn't stir up trouble this time. Maybe he's finally getting used to me?"

"I'm sorry." Hinata's face was downtrodden. Naruto knew that secretly, she'd always hoped her husband and her father would get along. "It's already hard enough raising two children without Father interfering."

There was a long pause. "Actually, I was hoping for a third child," Naruto said as he thumbed the hair out of Minato's face. "Especially since your cycle is late."

"W-well, it's not like I mind; I love my children, but …" They stood staring at each other in silence, azure eyes into lavender, as if trying to read each other's expressions. "Why?"

Naruto found it difficult to explain—that sudden desire to wrap his arms around a crying child, the relieving warmth when he comforted a friend's baby with silly faces, and that familiar loneliness when he caught a little boy playing at the park by himself. These swirling feelings he couldn't stand, but still dreamt of, wishing to feel, defeat, or revive them in his future.

He held Minato up in the air, as if lifting him to the light to examine him. "I want many children, so I can hold them when they're sad and lead them out of despair." He lowered the child and smiled at his wife. "Of course, that's something I can't do if you're not holding my hand."

She had the grace to blush as he put an arm around her and kissed her cheek. "You know," she said, "It's the same for me, too. You give me something that I can't live without, and that nobody could seem to give me for the longest time."

"What's that?" Naruto asked.

"Self-worth," she said with a smile.

"Oh, but you're worth tons on your own," he assured her.

She giggled. "Yes. To you. But to everyone else, anything I did was meaningless. Even my father, who loved me so dearly, pushed me so far for no reward. In my studies, martial arts, sports—everything. And yet he's never praised me once. The only responses I've gotten were akin to 'Do better next time,' no matter how well I did." She took Minato's little hand in her own. "It feels nice to be needed. To feel like I'm making a difference." She looked up into ocean-blue eyes. "You know?"

"Yeah," he said, hugging her close, "I know."

"And speaking of things people need, everyone here needs to get cleaned up," she handed a wash rag to Naruto. "Please don't touch anything until you've washed yourself."

Naruto gave her an impish grin. "Could _you_ wash me?"

He flinched as she smacked him playfully with the rag, then held still to let her clean off the whisker marks on his cheeks.

**(XXX)**

"Man, it's _way _too cold outside. We don't always get that much snow, but this year it's like somebody dropped the north pole right on top of us," Naruto said as he dropped his things on a bench in the gym locker rooms. He and Lee started pulling off what felt like a thousand layers of coats, scarves, and clothing, their shorts and T-shirts on the very bottom layer. Naruto couldn't help but feel he was getting too old for shorts, further convinced by the fact that even Lee had recently begun wearing sweat-pants. And he'd worn some pretty odd things before **(1)**.

"But it's not nearly cold enough for you to be wearing all that," Naruto said as he watched Lee, who was peeling off a second over-shirt. "The hell, man?"

With a laugh, Lee explained, "Gaara grew up in many very hot climates, like in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, where the summers are very harsh. So when he left the next and settled down here, the winters caught him by surprise1. He gets cold very easily, and always bundles up so thickly that he looks like a prowler, so when I go outside in the winter, I always make sure to do the same, so he does not stick out, or feel strange about himself."

"Man, you do things for the weirdest reasons," Naruto said, but he was smiling. "I'm sure he can handle a little bit of individuality. He's a man, after all."

At that comment, Lee's expression changed a little, darkening. "This is true." They both fell into companionable silence as they replaced their boots with sneakers, laced them up, then put on their gear and headed straight for the boxing ring. They often came by themselves during the week to work out on the other machines, but they came together for the boxing ring. They didn't have much time to talk anymore, what with Lee climbing the corporate ladder in the construction business and Naruto fitting in any and all hours of babysitting he could to make just a few more scraps of cash (seeing as how so far, it seemed to be the only thing he was good at), and the boxing ring had become their weekly event to refresh their friendship and catch up on each other's lives.

In fact, they'd met in that boxing ring. On a slow day at the gym, Naruto—at that time a young hot-head fresh to the gym, wild as a buck—who'd decided for no particularly good reason that he was having a bad day, was taking it out on any man he could sucker into the boxing ring. Of course, he knew nothing about boxing, and only swung as he saw fit, breaking the rules and pissing people off, even though he was somehow winning his fights. A tall figure had stepped up to him, grabbed him with a sinewy arm, and tried to apply some justice when Lee, with all his bowl-haired glory, as a long-time gym member stepped up, separated them, and told them they were both making a mockery of the art of boxing and the gym itself.

"If you feel such a need to harm someone," Lee said to Naruto, leading him into the ring, "then let me teach you to do it properly." After learning the basics and receiving a few swift teaching blows to the jaw, Naruto forgot why he was mad, and kept returning for more lessons, until he and Lee were fighting on equal footing, where they suddenly realized that all this time they'd been hanging out and talking like normal friends in between punches.

And now, years later, after the shock of Naruto's young girlfriend's revelation of her pregnancy, the tense family reception and his wedding, and the awkward moment between Naruto and Lee they'd just kind of bypassed when Lee announced he was in love with and dating a man, they'd still preserved this friendship, where they fought out their fears and mad feelings in the ring subconsciously, while only speaking of happy things or chit-chat about work and life. Thinking back on their friendship, Naruto realized that there were a lot of amazing things about Lee that he'd never really realized until now. Like the fact that he cared so deeply about his boyfriend, and would do the most complicated things to support him for the littlest of reasons.

As they traded a few blows in the ring, Naruto said without thinking, "You know, you're a doting person. You're a really great boyfriend to Gaara. I bet you'd be a really great father, too."

He saw Lee's stance shift slightly as he threw his next punch. Nearly imperceptible, the rest of his moves adapted smoothly to fit the change, as if to cover it up. "You think so? Gai-sensei told me the same thing."

"Gai-sensei? Who, that buff guy with a volume problem?" He grinned and ducked under a playful shot right at his nose. "He's pretty cool, when he's not yelling in my ear about the burning hot passion of youth. I get enough of that from you."

"Beyond being a part of the training program here at the gym, he also does personal training for up-and-coming athletes," Lee said, boxing Naruto's ears to get back at him for his earlier comments. "There was one point in my life years ago when I first joined, when I was considering taking up professional fighting as a career. A fellow member who had recently gone pro in the same area recommended Gai-sensei to me as a personal trainer, and that was how we met. Ever since then, he has been my idol." He gave a smile swelling with pride. "Thanks to him, I nearly went pro, too."

"Whoa, I knew you were great at fighting, fuzzy-brows, but doing it as a career? That would've been the bomb." His face alight with admiration, Naruto asked, "So why didn't you go pro? No one would sponsor you?"

Yet again, there was a peculiar, nearly seamless shift in Lee's expression and stance. Was it Naruto's imagination, or were the hits falling harder? "No, I quit. Gai-sensei asked me to think about my future, if fighting was what I wanted to dedicate my life to. Surely fighting is an integral part of my lifestyle, but a lot of opportunities would be lost. I would always be in danger of becoming injured, would hardly have free time, and would never be able to start a family."

"Well, you can cross the last of those worries off the list, I guess," Naruto said with a light shrug.

Lee gave him a bitter smile. "I suppose."

Suddenly, the atmosphere was very awkward, and they both began dancing around each other. All was quiet except for the thumping of their feet against the floor.

Naruto was the one that brought them back to their match, delivering a quick jab. "But hey, if you get a promotion soon, maybe you'll get some extra money coming in, get some more time off, and then you'll be able to start a family."

Parrying his blow easily, Lee threw three hard fists at the blonde man's chest, keeping his eyes trained on the orange T-shirt in front of him, only to be blocked. "My job is not quite so stable as you think it is. And besides, Gaara and I cannot have children, and he is the only one I desire a future with."

"Yeah, but there's always adoption," Naruto pointed out. He dodged a few more hits that came a little faster, and jabbed back harder to match Lee's pace. "And we're coming to an era in society where people aren't persecuted so strongly for their sexuality, so there will be less objection to you and Gaara raising a foster child as a gay couple, meaning a better social environment for your family."

Jet-black eyes shining bright with wishes, Lee said with a rather gruff tone and heavy hand, "No, there would still be too much difficulty. Especially with my job. We are about as unstable financially right now as you and Hinata-chan are." He softened, looking a bit guilty. "Besides, although I would love to help a child in need, having a foster child is not the same as having one of your own."

"Well, they have surrogate mothers nowadays …" Naruto suggested.

"I would rather not," Lee said.

"Huh? Why not?"

Lee's shoulders twitched in obvious irritation. "I just do not feel comfortable with having a person I do not love carry my baby."

Noticing Lee's behavior with a bit of a frown, Naruto pressed, "Hm, well then, if you can't have a baby full-time, maybe you could do something like childcare? As a babysitter, I get enough of the bundles o' joy to nearly make me sick."

"I like my job as a security guard, thank you."

"You wouldn't have to do it full-time. Maybe sometimes on the weekends. There are all kinds of ads in the paper."

"No, thank you."

"Ooh, maybe you could be a primary school gym teacher? Knowing you, you'd probably love teaching P.E."

"No, Naruto."

"Play with some kids at the park?"

Lee finally gave him a shockingly red-hot glare. "Please stop, alright? For right now, all of those options are impossible."

Shrinking back under that gaze, Naruto said, "Um, sorry? I just thought …"

Sighing, Lee seemed to relax a little. "Forget it. I apologize for my tension. I am having a rough week. And, well …" He shrugged. "I would like to do some of those things you suggested, if I could. Like adopting or babysitting. But this is just not the time."

"Ah, I get it," Naruto half-nodded in understanding, a gesture which was returned with enthusiasm that showed there were no hard feelings. They went back to their sparring match, and with each hit, they drove away some anxiety from each other. Things were back to normal.

"Well, in any case," Naruto eventually began, "if you two ever get lonely in that apartment by yourselves, you can take our little rug-rats out for a spin anytime, free of charge. Be nice to get 'em off our hands every once in a while."

His pleasant laughter was cut off by a fist to his jaw. The force of the blow was so powerful that he was felled in that single strike, and hit the ground so hard that when Lee helped him sit up a few moments later, through all the dizziness he couldn't tell whether or not the back of his head might have cracked open, too.

Helping Naruto to his feet, Lee brushed him off and looked at Naruto's jaw where it was surely already starting to swell. "Forgive me! Forgive me! I am so careless! Are you alright?"

"Shit, Lee," Naruto squeaked out. His legs were trembling from pure shock. "You should've gone pro."

They worked together to get Naruto to a seat. After his friend sat down, Lee told him to sit tight and ran to try and find some ice.

No doubt, Lee seemed as shocked as Naruto was. And he was helpful as always, ready to efficiently take care of the problem. Lee was always kind to his brother. But there was something off about him, something that seemed to have been off for a while now. There were feelings that ran across his face that Naruto never knew he was capable of.

Knowing what he knew about his friend, he could only discount it as his overactive imagination, but …

He could swear that with Lee's last punch, the fuzzy-browed man meant to hurt him.

**(XXX)**

Naruto had just put the children to bed, tucking them away from the harsh winter weather with extra blankets, when Hinata returned to the house from her book club meeting, face distraught.

"I just got a call from Hanabi," she said, pulling her scarf from around her neck. She was covered with snow. "It's about Father."

"Is something wrong?" Naruto blanched. He'd already lost his godfather in the past week, so suddenly the possibility of losing his father-in-law as well was very real. "Something happen to the family?"

"No, no, nothing like that," Hinata answered, reading his expression. "She told me that he's in Hokkaido right now."

"What? Why?"

"A young woman whose mother is a friend of the family has been accused of murdering her newborn baby." Naruto cringed. Now that he had children, the thought of somebody killing a child sent endless shivers through his whole body. "Her family is convinced she's innocent, but they were having trouble finding someone to represent them, so they asked Father if he would take their case. He had to leave right away, because the trial is in a few days, and he has to meet with them to go over the details of their defense."

For once, Naruto felt sorry for him. The man had money, two beautiful daughters, a family that backed everything he did because they had faith in his success, and now grandchildren who loved him. But with great power came great responsibility. He couldn't just refuse a friend of the family, and even worse, whatever sentence she received would be on his head, following him through the branches of his family tree like a dark cloud. People have received death sentences for killing their children. What if he fails to prove her innocence?

However, even though these thoughts went through his mind, Naruto also had to ask, 'What if we can't find another babysitter in time?' He needed to take care of his godfather's last needs, and he couldn't do it while balancing a baby on his knee.

"Naruto … are we going to be able to make this trip?" Hinata asked in a small voice. "We barely have enough money to rent a hotel room for four days, and we also have to make sure the funeral and Jiraiya-san's monument are paid for. Even if we could hire a babysitter for four days, we don't know if we'll be able to pull together enough money to take care of ourselves alone."

"I … I don't know, Hinata." And these weren't even the least of their problems. Now was as good a time as any to tell her. "Well, I have even more bad news," Naruto said with a sigh. "I think Lee is pissed at me."

"Lee is? Surely not."

"Yeah. When we were at the gym a couple weeks ago and got into the little boxing ring, he hit me real hard in the jaw. I mean, we had to quit, he hurt me that bad."

"That's why your face was so swelled up? You told me you walked into the bookshelf."

"Well, I thought it was an accident, so I wasn't gonna say anything. He's really good at controlling his movements. But then he stopped answering my calls and wouldn't come to the gym, so yesterday I called to try and ask him what was wrong and he finally picked up, and told me that I should stop calling him."

"I wonder what's gotten into him?" Hinata said, shocked. "I've never seen you two fight before."

"Well …" Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. "To tell you the truth, I kinda knew he didn't hit me on accident."

Lavender eyes stared at him blankly.

"Just hear me out. Sometimes he and I talk while we're boxing, you know, and … we were talking about parenthood and kids, and … well … he's kind of mad that he can't have kids. And, well, I didn't catch on, so I told him I was hoping for another baby, and …"

Watching Hinata's face morph into one of horrified understanding, she asked, "Oh, Naruto, what are we going to do? We can't leave things like this."

"And he might have been able to take care of the kids, too," Naruto murmured. "I felt horrible. I can't help wondering how he felt every time I talked about the kids, or what he must have felt like seeing them when they were first born … I don't want him to hate me over this. I mean, I wish he could be happy just as much as he does."

"You need to call him and make things right," Hinata advised with a firm, soft touch on his arm.

"What am I supposed to say, though? 'Sorry you need a woman to make babies?'" Naruto paid for his bitterness when a pained frown crossed his wife's lovely features, making the closest to an angry expression he'd ever seen on her face.

"He has no right to make us feel like we are to blame. But you have no right to feel insulted, either. Whether you did the wrong thing or not, you caused a problem, and you need to fix it."

She walked away, cooing at the baby who had now begun to whine, and sat down in her rocking chair. As Naruto watched her rock back and forth with the tiny bundle in her arms, he remembered who they'd received it from, and instantly felt guilty.

"_Oh wow, Lee!" Hinata said, clutching her breast in astonishment at the antique rocking chair he'd pulled out of his room and was now dusting off with his sleeve. "It's absolutely beautiful!" The wood was without scratches or wear, looked brand-spankin'-new, and so sturdy that when Hinata sat down in it, hardly a creak could be heard, even with her stomach swelled to accommodate her unborn baby's six-month development._

_Lee shrugged, giving a rosy grin. "I wanted to give it to you before the wedding. You know, so that I was not just another person sending in a cooking pot **(2)**."_

"_Hell, Lee, where did you get this?" Naruto ran his fingers over the varnished wood. "I mean, I'm no antiques expert, but people still pay a pretty penny for good rocking chairs these days."_

"_Well, Gai-sensei gave it to me a few years ago for my birthday. He told me I should save it for when I get married, and then pass it on to my wife and children." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Since I do not have a wife, and Gaara does not much care for rocking chairs … It has been sitting here all this time. I like to look at it, but I would rather you two have it, if you can put it to good use."_

"_Man, not even the old beast-in-law got us a gift yet!" Naruto grinned widely. "He's gonna be so pissed that you beat him to the punch!"_

"_Oh, I apologize!" Lee said sincerely. "Family members should always have their gifts opened first!"_

"_I guess that just makes you one of the family, then," Hinata said freely with a sweet smile._

Naruto's insides soured. Not only had Lee been the first to give them a wedding gift, he'd been the first to pour out his undying support. He'd taken care of arrangements for the bridal shower. He'd driven Hinata wherever she wanted during both pregnancies and patiently obliged her if she suddenly changed her mind or had a bad mood swing. And he'd practically begged to be Naruto's best man. Not even Hiashi could fairly claim that he cared about them more than Lee did, because if his actions were any indication, Lee cared a whole lot.

And the thought that he might have felt a twinge of pain and doubt as he gave away that rocking chair, which was lovingly given to him with high hopes by his sensei, was just the top of the teetering tower of guilt that had built up inside of Naruto.

With a sigh, he looked towards the phone. Lee hadn't bothered to answer any of the dozens of calls Naruto had made before, so why would he now? And he had good reason too, Naruto supposed. But the thought that he might never box with Lee again, that he might never stay around to be an uncle to the Uzumaki children that he'd cared for and supported so much, was something that made Naruto pick up the phone and carefully dial the number.

Shoving his free hand into his pocket, he listened to the phone ring, praying that this time, someone would pick up.

Riiiiiiing.

Riiiiiiing.

"Come on, Lee, pick up," he muttered to himself, rocking back and forth on his heels.

Riiiii—*click*! The sound of the other line being picked up.

Naruto asserted himself quickly before he could be interrupted. "Hey, Lee, we need to talk."

There was a pause before a slightly-less familiar, deep timbre responded, "It's me."

"Oh, Gaara!" Naruto said, stumbling over his words. Well, _someone_ picked up, but …

Lee's boyfriend wasn't very sociable. Naruto had met him once before, at his and Hinata's wedding. Since they invited Lee, Gaara by default was invited too. During the ceremony he sat eerily still, with no expression, just another black suit in the audience, except for his wild red hair and piercing green eyes. The reception wasn't much better. He only stayed long enough to meet, greet, and congratulate the newly-married couple, before stalking off somewhere. And even the one time they _did_ talk, Gaara was incredibly curt, serious, and a little cold. According to Lee, the only people he had extended conversations with were his boyfriend, his siblings, and sometimes the people he worked with, when he needed information. Naruto tried to imagine this stony man having a phone conversation with a friend. Or just having friends at all.

"Sorry, I just assumed that … um …"

A short huff just barely graced the receiver. "… I normally wouldn't answer the phone. But since Lee is out right now, I didn't want him to miss any important calls."

So this guy had some courtesy. That was a start. "Well … this is Naruto."

"Ah, yes. From the wedding," Gaara said. "You need something from Lee. I can take a message."

"Um … well …" Naruto began awkwardly, scratching his head. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Hinata's eyes watching him as she rocked slowly back and forth. He turned towards the window and looked down at the street below, watching the snow piling up. "I just … need him to call me back."

For about half a minute, nobody said anything. Shifting nervously, Naruto shoved a hand in his pocket and shrugged to himself. "A-alright, well, if you could give him that message … uh … Goodnight—"

"This is about your children, isn't it?"

Heart thumping a mile a minute in his chest, Naruto said, "W-what are you talking about?"

"Lee …" Gaara hesitated. "Mentioned what happened a couple weeks ago."

Naruto winced. He probably meant the incident in the gym. "What'd he say?"

"He said that he was … jealous of you two. Or rather, perhaps instead of being jealous, he's disappointed."

Not a word passed between them, though Naruto could tell Gaara knew his heart was breaking. "Disappointment"—that one little word held so much more meaning than it was made out to. The young blonde hot-head and the bushy-browed muscle-man had been a duo ever since they met in the ring. And now Naruto's happiness, his children—his _life_—was causing Lee misery, and tearing their friendship apart.

"He wants a family," Gaara stated solemnly. A hint of bitterness seeped through. "But I can't give that to him. Even if we could have a child."

"For Hinata and I, all of this was a happy accident," Naruto said. His eyes flickered over to Hinata for a moment, who was smiling to herself discreetly. "I don't want him to hate us for it."

"He doesn't hate you." The gentleness in Gaara's voice caught Naruto off-guard. "But he's hurt. While he's in pain, he's irrational, and is taking it out on you. And the road to recovery is long. For all we know, you two might be estranged for a long time."

They fell into silence once more. "Do _you_ hate us?" He said quietly.

"You're Lee's friends," Gaara responded, as if it were a clear answer.

After another eternity of quiet thought on the part of both men, Naruto heard a door open in the background accompanied by the sound of Lee's voice. Blue eyes went wide with relief as his ears perked up. "He's home?"

In a near-whisper, Gaara quickly said, "I'll have him call you back."

"What? But he's right there!"

"Trust me."

"Just put him on the phone."

"Now is _not_ a good time."

That frighteningly stern tone scared Naruto into submission.

"He'll call you tomorrow," Gaara stated flatly, before curtly hanging up.

"I'll hold you to that," Naruto muttered, putting the phone back on its hook.

"He wasn't home?" Hinata asked.

Naruto shook his head. "Looks like he just got back, but for some reason, Gaara seemed pretty adamant about not letting me talk to him. He said he'd have Lee call me back. Do you think he will?"

"I'm sure Gaara will at least pass on the message," Hinata smiled a bit at the doubtful look that came upon Naruto's face. "He may seem to be a cold person, but he is Lee's lover, after all. I'm sure he has many saving qualities we don't know about yet." Seeing Naruto still had some unease, she stood up and took his arm. "Let's not worry about this anymore—it's getting late. We should get some rest. You said you put the kids to sleep, right?"

"Yeah. I'd just put Hinako in her crib when you came home."

"Let's make sure they're alright, and then go lay down."

He nodded. "Alright."

First they went into the baby's room and quietly snuck around the side of her crib, stroking her little face and adjusting her blanket. They had a silent, mini-argument about whether or not the blanket was tucked in too close, stabbing each other with their fingernails as they nipped and tucked the little piece of cloth, trying not to laugh at each other. Nobody would understand these smiles they shared, the little things in their life that made everything worth it. No one understood the hardships they'd endured, the stares they braved, the future they faced. Even they could not completely comprehend what was to come.

But now that they had a family, they thought, 'what else is there?' And more importantly, 'if there's anything else, would it matter?' These children, both of them happy accidents in a young marriage, had become the glue that held them together when everything was falling apart, the crux of their world, even if they were spinning on a tilted axis. They were the final close connection this dreamy-eyed couple had always been missing, and the only people who could even hope to understand were the ones who were missing what Naruto and Hinata had.

In the end, preserving happiness was all that mattered. To preserve that happiness, they would have to not only face the difficulties of parenting, but the issue of Naruto's dead godfather, Hinata's giant family, and the friends they couldn't bear to lose. As husband and wife, they were as one in the determination not to fail.

With these thoughts tumbling in their mind, they couldn't know that Minato, who'd only moments ago been listening to them talk from a blind spot in the hall, was now missing from his bedroom, along with a blanket full of toys that had just been on the floor.

**(XXX)**

"I am home," Lee called out as he locked the front door behind him. He didn't notice Gaara hastily hang up the phone as he took off his tie. Usually he'd change out of his uniform and into his casual wear at work before coming home, but today he'd gone to work wearing a suit.

"What did your boss say?" Gaara asked immediately, making Lee wish he was a little less to-the-point. At the moment, he didn't really want to think about the issue at hand.

"Well, I will definitely be keeping my job for a while longer," Lee sighed, "but for how much longer, I do not know. Seems like the boss called me up especially to tell me he would be hanging onto me as an employee through the next layoffs, but the security department has bigger problems coming."

Gaara took his suit jacket and went to go find a hanger. After he'd hung it up, he came back into the living room, where Lee was sprawled on the couch in his one pair of snazzy pants, no doubt wrinkling them indefinitely, which earned him a long stare as he continued talking.

"You would think that a company as big as Walker & Ramble would have no shortage of security problems, but in fact, there have been pretty much no offenders at all that have tried to trespass or break in or steal anything in a year. And the company itself as a whole needs to cut costs, so when the higher-ups found out we were not doing much, they tried to axe several jobs in our department. The boss managed to stave this off by cutting some unnecessary equipment, but if this keeps up, they will come after our jobs again." Lee blinked at Gaara. "… What are you staring at?"

"Your pants are getting wrinkled," Gaara answered.

"Oh. Right. I forgot about that." But somehow, Lee got the feeling that there was something else behind that gaze. When he went into the other room to change, Gaara followed him to the door, standing in the doorway while Lee slipped into his jeans. He zipped himself up and pulled on a belt only to find Gaara still standing there. "Um … what is it, Gaara?"

"Naruto called today," Gaara stated, and suddenly Lee realized why he was in the doorway.

"Look, could we not talk about this?" Lee said, trying to squeeze past the other man.

He was firmly blocked from exiting. Looking at Gaara's crossed arms and set expression, he realized with a sinking heart that this was a time when his lover would refuse to be budged. He'd been in similar situations before, and Gaara could stand for hours unmovable, like a statue. "I told him you would call him back."

"That would not be a good idea," Lee said, but he withered under Gaara's stony gaze.

"So you're just going to leave things as they are."

Flinching, Lee maintained, "I have my reasons."

"You feel like Naruto has wronged you."

"Well, I—"

"And yet when he tries to fix things, you ignore him."

"Would you just—?"

"You know he would not hurt you on purpose."

Lee threw his hands up in the air in a rare display of anger. "God, I can hardly get you to talk in general, but when we fight, I cannot get one word in!"

Lee knew all of the things Gaara had said were true. He was aware that Naruto had been trying to be supportive, but he just couldn't help feeling like Naruto was flaunting his good fortune, always talking about his kids, other people's kids, anything to do with kids, and how he loved it all. And that left Lee sitting in the corner of a well-worn apartment with a boyfriend who didn't seem to care for children at all. Lee's life dream had never once wavered—he wanted to find the love of his life, get married, get a good job, and then start a family. And so far, the only thing he'd done is find the love of his life, and everything else was mucked up based only on the fact that the person he loved was a man. Sure, they could get married, but they'd have to have the ceremony out of the country, because he was pretty sure Japan hadn't legalized gay marriage. Sure, he could have a good job, if his tight-wad boss stopped milking him for all he was worth and taking advantage of his good-hearted, honest behavior by paying him as little as he could. Sure, he could start a family—like Naruto said, he could adopt. He could probably manage to love a foster child as his own. But even if his job wasn't a load of crap, Gaara had already made it clear that he didn't do well with kids. Piling all of these things on top of each other, what kind of life would his child be destined for?

But even more than being jealous, Lee felt guilty. He'd proven to himself that he was so torn by his wish for children that he would even go so far as to hurt his friend, and he didn't want to do that. Naruto was dear to him, like a brother, and even though he wanted to preserve their friendship, he didn't want to risk hurting the other man or his wife or his family in any way by having such a bad attitude.

And now, to top it all off, he was in an argument with his boyfriend, and he couldn't even win that.

"Look, it is my decision what to do—"

"So you're just going to give up two dear friends?"

"Gaara—"

"And after all they've done for us."

Truly, Lee had done some wonderful things to help his newly-wed friends as they embarked on the terrifying journey of parenthood. But they had given him things that were irreplaceable as well. Ever since Lee and Gaara decided they would try and make a life together as lovers, Lee's group of reliable friends had slowly whittled away, and Gaara's siblings had all but abandoned him. They'd suffered discrimination to an extent that Lee lost a couple of jobs due to his sexuality. Of course, breaking it to Naruto and Hinata had been no walk in the park, but … Lee had told them about it right around the time the Hyuuga had announced a shotgun wedding, so Naruto especially knew a thing or two about being hated and pushed around for something he couldn't have helped. He'd shown his support by helping Lee move everything into his new apartment, finding him job opportunities he could have taken himself, and even helped Lee build the little workout room he had in his home so he could exercise even when the gym wasn't open.

Even Hinata had bought them apartment-warming gifts—including a lot of the essentials they would need now that they had two people living together—and baked them a lot of goodies to celebrate their moving in together. Remarkably, she'd managed to cook up a treat that actually produced a reaction from Gaara, who normally ate everything with his usual grave, unaffected expression. Not to mention the hours and hours she and Lee had spent on the phone together, keeping each other updated, giving advice, and suggesting places to go for certain jobs to get done.

There were many things about their friendship that Lee didn't want to throw away. But unfortunately, having a child was another thing he didn't want to lose, and to know he could never have one of his own, while his friends already had two, was a pain that wasn't easily healed.

And besides, he wondered out loud, "Why do you care so much about it, Gaara? Always off by yourself, up until now, you could not care less about who I was friends with."

Giving him a deadly glare, Gaara delivered a simple phrase that tore Lee apart.

"I thought you weren't the kind of person to abandon your friends."

As Lee stood speechless, Gaara finally moved from the doorway, and walked towards the front door. Walking out after him, Lee floundered, mouth opening and closing. "Where are you going?" he asked weakly.

"Out," Gaara said. Then he left, slamming the door behind him.

**(XXX)**

With the cold wind nipping at his heels, Gaara had walked for twenty minutes with virtually no coat on, though he at least had a sweater. His arms were crossed over his chest like normal, but this time to tuck his hands in a place where they'd be warm. There were times when he and Lee would argue, or something bad would happen, and Gaara would just walk out of the house like he'd just done and go somewhere to be by himself, which was just what he determined to do now, despite the snow falling, the frigid conditions, and the piled-up snow on the sidewalk that was getting in his shoes. He just needed a little time to cool off.

Usually, when he "went away," he would travel to the small park that was on the edge of town in the middle of the night. A serene place surrounded by trees with nobody around, at the park, Gaara could turn towards the mighty oaks and feel like he'd gotten away from the city and all the people, and just be alone. So as he neared the park, he was surprised to see a tall man in a trench-coat, his hat hiding his face, standing near the entrance, looking down on a familiar head of bluish-blonde hair. Moving quietly into the man's blind-spot behind him, he crept up on their exchange.

"Would you like some candy, little man?" The stranger produced a lollipop from his coat pocket. "There's plenty more where this came from in my car. Do you want some?"

"No thanks, sir, I'm busy," the boy said cutely with his stuffed-up nose.

"Aw, come on. What kid doesn't like candy?" the man goaded.

"I don't want any right now," the boy insisted, still apparently unaware of the man's intentions. "I'm busy."

"Just come with me, and I'll give you a little bag you can take along." He reached out with a spindly, claw-like hand and grabbed the boy's shoulder harshly, making him squeak. "I promise, you can take all you—"

There was a dull _thwack_ sound and the man's eyes went wide. He nearly fell forward onto the boy, who cowered and covered his face, but a hand caught the stranger's limp body before it could fall, and then tossed him deftly to the side.

Looking up in fear at the man who was revealed, the boy cringed when he heard his name.

"Minato … isn't it?" Gaara asked. He watched the boy shiver in fear, waiting patiently for an answer, until he realized the boy was staring at the tree branch in his hand. He'd used it to knock out the man who'd tried to approach the young boy. He dropped it, but by that time, the boy had already started to run away.

Catching him by the collar, Gaara said, "Don't run." The boy still squirmed, trying to get away. "Your name is Minato. Your parents are Naruto and Hinata. Right?"

Turning to him with a trembling body and lip, the boy answered, "Y-yeah. Who are you?"

Gaara searched for a way that Minato could identify him. "You know Uncle Lee."

Minato's eyes seemed to brighten at the mention of the fuzzy-browed man, who'd often played with and babysat him. "But you're not Uncle Lee!"

"No, I'm not. But I live with him. I'm Gaara."

"Oh, you're Uncle Lee's—his—" Minato was grasping for something and then exploded in a bright smile once he brought it to mind. "His soul-mate!"

Gaara nearly raised a non-existent eyebrow at this description, and wondered just what other words Lee used to describe them, especially to a small child like this one.

When he was sure Minato wouldn't run away, he released his collar and looked him over. He wasn't wearing any kind of winter protection, and he was carrying a bundled-up blanket with him. "You're not supposed to be out here."

The child seemed at a loss for words, staring at his shoes.

Surveying their surroundings with a calculated eye, he stoically observed that they were only about three streets away from where Minato's parents lived. The road was covered in ice, so travel by car would be dangerous, but if Minato already knew what his address was, and Gaara could double-check it with him, then he could walk him home.

However, he thought, he could instead make some use of this inconvenient situation.

Looking down at Minato, he said calmly, "Come with me. I'll take you somewhere warm, and then we'll call your parents."

Minato hesitated, still unsure of whether or not he should trust this man, and for a while, it seemed like he would never answer. But then he asked quietly. "Will you carry me?"

Gaara blinked. "Why?"

"My feet are cold, and they hurt," the child whined, tears welling up in his eyes. He looked cold, tired, and scared, reduced to trusting someone he barely knew anything about.

Gaara continued to stare at this small, fragile phenomenon the world calls a "child" for several minutes, wondering to himself, until Minato shifted with another whine. Then the older man bent down, carefully scooped him up, and carried him with surprising strength and steadiness all the way to the apartment.

**(XXX)**

Hinata was pacing around the apartment, her head in her hands. She looked up as Naruto ran back in through the front door. "The roads are too icy, the car is useless," he told her. "Get me a flashlight and I'll look for him on foot."

She ran to go find one for him. The baby started crying, and Naruto took the time to go into Hinako's room and comfort her back to sleep. He heard the phone ring and grumbled to himself, "One thing right after another." Not really keen on answering phone calls right now, he still knew he had to. They'd called the police almost immediately to report a missing child, and they could be calling back. He tucked Hinako back in and then went back into the living room, picking up the phone on the third ring.

"What is it?" he asked irritably.

A terribly deep, cold voice said, "We have your children."

"Who the hell is this?!" Naruto snapped. Hinata, who had just hurried back into the room with a flashlight in hand, blanched and ran to Naruto, throwing her arms around his midsection. Their hearts were beating frantically as they both shared the same sudden fear. "I swear, if you've done anything to Minato, I'll—"

"… It's Gaara," the man said blankly.

"Oh," Naruto said. "_Oh_ …" He scratched his head. "Sorry about that, Gaara …"

Hinata's pretty little head shot up at the name and she looked at her husband expectantly. He gave her a gesture to wait for more information.

"I called, since I was pretty sure that Minato wasn't supposed to be wandering out in the snow at night," Gaara said, looking askance at the little creature that had suddenly stopped climbing all over "Uncle Lee" to come over and hug Gaara's legs with wide, hopeful eyes.

"Thank God you found him," Naruto finally allowed himself a sigh of relief. "He's there at your apartment? Where was he?"

"He was hiding out at the park." Gaara decided not to mention the creepy man who had tried to make a move on the little boy.

"That's not far from our house, so I guess he wasn't gone long," Naruto gave the thumbs-up to Hinata to show everything was okay, and she started sobbing quietly out of happiness, clinging tighter to his waist. He put one arm around her to comfort her. "Can you put him on the phone? I need to know what happened."

Handing the phone down to Minato, Gaara expected to be able to walk away, but unexpectedly the child continued to cling to his leg with one hand while holding the phone with the other. He looked helplessly at Lee, who was doing his best to stifle a grin and receiving a glare for his efforts.

"Hello?" Minato said tentatively.

Now that he finally heard his child's voice and could rest completely assured that he was safe, Naruto's voice became thick as a knot formed in his throat. "Minato! I'm so glad you're alright!"

"You are?" his son asked shakily.

"Of course I am! Your mother and I were worried sick! We had no idea where you were, and if you were hurt or not! What happened to you?"

"It was so cold and strange people kept bothering me and I just wanted to come home," Minato began to cry. "I'm sorry, Dad."

Naruto was confused. "Why should you be sorry?"

"'Cause everything was my fault! I heard you and Mom talking tonight about how you were fighting with Uncle Lee, and that he was mad at you because of me and sis!" He hiccupped, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. Lee looked up at Gaara, horrified, met with an expression solemn even by Gaara's standards.

"Hinako is just a baby," Minato continued. "She couldn't have done something wrong. So it's got to be my fault that you guys aren't friends anymore. So I thought that you'd be better off if I left, and so I ran away." The child was crying almost hysterically by now, slurring his words, dripping with tears and snot. Unconsciously, Gaara rested his hand on that little blonde head, and Minato leaned farther into him.

"Of course that could never be true!" Naruto nearly screeched. "We love you, Minato. Even if Uncle Lee were mad about you, which he's not, you're more important!"

"No, I'm not!" Minato shouted. "I love Uncle Lee! He hangs out with me when you and Mom aren't home, and he buys me toys and tells me stories and wrestles with me!" Sniffing, and gathering all the might he had into his young voice, he said, "If it's really true, if it's really not my fault, then make up with him already, you big stupid Dad!"

Naruto was stock-still, dead silent out of shock.

"What's wrong?" Hinata asked. "Did he hang up?" She wormed the receiver out of his hands. "Minato?"

"Mommy!" Minato whined, tears starting up all over again.

"Don't cry now, sweetie," she cooed. "Listen, have you told your father everything?"

Minato nodded. "Uh-huh."

"Alright. Is Gaara still there?"

"Yeah."

"Let me talk to him for a minute."

"Okay." He handed the phone up to Gaara. "Mommy wants to talk to you." After Gaara took the phone, the young boy ran over to Lee who welcomed him into strong arms and embraced him. They apologized to each other over and over, both ironically trying to convince the other that they weren't at fault.

Watching them out of the corner of his eye, Gaara put the receiver up to his ear. "Hello."

"Gaara, you were the one who called, right?" Hinata said. "Were you also the one that found Minato?"

"Mm," he grunted in response.

"Thank you so much," she said genuinely. "I don't know how you did it, but thank you. And I'm sorry, but I have to ask another favor of you."

He watched Lee and Minato, who were on the couch, incomprehensibly sticking their fingers up each other's noses. "Go ahead."

"We tried to search by car earlier, but the roads are too slick. The roads are still horrible, so we wouldn't be able to travel safely. If it's not too much trouble, could Minato stay overnight? We'll come pick him up in the morning."

Weighing the prospects of having a carpet-crawler in the apartment until morning, after some silence Gaara eventually answered, "That sounds fine."

"Really?" She sounded so bright, it was a wonder he couldn't see her beaming in her apartment out the window. "Are you sure Lee won't mind?"

"It's the least we can do, since it's his fault Minato ran away," Gaara said bluntly, pinning down Lee with those icy eyes. But Lee pretended not to notice, busy playing with Minato. "Besides, they seem to be having enough fun pulling their brains out through their noses."

"… Are they really?"

"I hope not," Gaara murmured.

Hinata stifled a giggle on the other line. "Alright. We'll come over around nine tomorrow morning. Sound fair?"

"He'll be ready."

"Great. Thanks again." She hung up, knowing Gaara would put the phone down without saying goodbye.

When he walked over to the two playing on the couch they immediately stopped their rough-housing, realizing the "authority figure" had arrived. He sat on the other side of Minato and with arms crossed said to Lee, "He's staying the night. They want to come pick him up at nine tomorrow."

Lee nodded, with no room or motivation to argue. "Should we all go to bed, then? It is very late."

"Not quite yet," Gaara said, looking down at Minato. His stern face made the child visibly nervous. "Minato, I know you're young, but surely your parents must have warned you about talking to strangers."

"Um, a little bit," Minato said, squirming in his seat, indicating that either he hadn't been told, or he just hadn't been listening.

"You're lucky that I turned out to be who I said I was, but you won't always be so fortunate," Gaara said. "Anyone could come up to you and say they're a friend of your parents, or the name of someone you know. You shouldn't trust strangers so easily."

"Gaara is right," Lee said. "There are a lot of bad people out there, who might try to do bad things to you."

Minato looked between both of them. "Like what?"

"You remember that man you met at the park?" Gaara asked. Minato nodded. "He was pretending to be nice to you, giving you candy, but you know that in the end, he tried to hurt you. Some strangers might actually be nice, but a lot of them are like him, too."

"Yeah, Gaara is right—wait, was he attacked?!"

Gaara ignored him. "Promise you won't talk to strangers anymore."

Minato nodded. "Alright, I promise." He stared at Gaara for a few moments, then hugged his waist. "Thanks for saving me."

Seeing that Gaara didn't seem sure how to respond, Lee stood, took Minato's arm gently, and had him get off the couch. "We should all get some sleep now. Your parents will be here early. It might be scary sleeping in a new place alone, so would you like to come sleep in our room with us?"

"Okay!" Minato cried cheerfully, running off in the wrong direction.

Gaara quickly stood, put a hand on top of his head to stop him, then turned him the right way and sent him off with Lee into the bedroom, following close behind.

And Hinata back at home, was consoling Naruto through streams of tears, with worried looks and hushed assurances. She wondered what Minato could have said that would have him so upset.

If Naruto had the words to speak, he would have told her that he was not crying out of sorrow, but that these were tears of joy. No doubt, he'd been insulted and berated by his own six-year-old son, his last words replaying over and over like a broken record player.

"_Make up with him already, you big stupid Dad!"_

His pride should have been injured, but instead it swelled in his heart as he thought to himself, _That's my boy._

The first of thousands of instances where he would know a father's pride for his son.

**(XXX)**

The next morning, Gaara and Lee welcomed their visitors to their humble abode with warmth and breakfast, which Gaara cooked himself. Lee had been shocked, watching his boyfriend at the stove with pans full of eggs and bacon, saying, "I didn't know you could cook!" Minato stared amazed, as if this event coupled with his actions from the previous night proved that Gaara could do anything. Gaara thought they were all idiots, and told them they could either go away or he'd throw out what he'd made and they could crack the eggs and bacon into a pan themselves.

The food came out smelling wonderful, and Lee and Minato waited anxiously with watering mouths for the others to arrive so they could begin eating. However, when Naruto and Hinata arrived, all thoughts of food were wiped away as Minato, Naruto, and Lee all had a huge group hug, half-crying and refusing to let go, before anyone could even take off their coats. Everything had been forgotten in a mere second—the hostility, the distance between them—and they were acting ridiculous as usual again, making jokes and sniffling as they clung to each other. Even Minato was doing a pretty good job of mimicking them, though whether or not him following in those footsteps was a good thing …

They started waddling around the room, still connected as they swayed from side to side, their movement eventually forcing Gaara to move out of their way. He found himself next to Hinata, who'd slipped past the others with the baby carrier, set it on the table, and taken Hinako out of it. As she bounced the baby in her arms, he didn't quite know what to say to fill the silence, other than, "Raising children must be horrendous."

Her laugh was like a wind-chime in the breeze, erasing what little tension was left after the other three had gone silly. "I'm glad to find someone who understands. It really is difficult, especially after a child is first born. You have to feed it, change it, take it everywhere, and worry if you'll ever get your figure back."

Her jokes never gleaned a smile, but she saw his eyes flash in amusement.

Face growing dark, she said, "You know, at first, I almost wondered if Naruto loved me. Since the wedding was forced, I had a suspicion that he was just marrying me out of responsibility. I wondered if he really needed me." She looked at Naruto, remembering their conversation from before, when he'd explained why he loved their children so much.

"_I want many children, so I can hold them when they're sad and lead them out of despair. Of course, that's something I can't do if you're not holding my hand."_

Even though she'd been prepared to give him the world, she hadn't known if she was ready to give him the many children he wanted. With no confidence in herself, in her ability to raise children, unsure if she could make him happy, she'd always doubted herself until now. She imagined Gaara must have doubted himself at some point, too.

So she brightened and gave him another blinding smile. "But I now know that he does. And it's a wonderful feeling."

She shot him a knowing look, to which he nodded. "It is."

"Speaking of needing things …" She shifted Hinako to her other arm, giving Gaara a full view of the baby's face. She gurgled at him a bit before turning away to focus on more interesting things. "We've asked enough of you already, but … could you do me one last favor?"

Gaara gave Hinata his full focus, which encouraged her to continue.

"Would you mind if Minato and Hinako stayed with you a couple days next week?" Hinata began. "You see, Naruto and I will be gone to take care of—"

Gaara blinked at her slowly. "Lee would be the one to ask, not me."

"Well, sure, I could ask the person who will definitely say yes and be happy about getting to spend time with the kids," Hinata laughed. "But I know you like your space, and I thought I should consider your feelings and ask you first. I myself have been put in inconvenient situations because others went around me and simply asked my husband for something."

There was silence. He just stared at her, and she blinked at him prettily, waiting patiently for him to say something. "It's not like I would mind, as long as you wrote down what you needed for us to do."

She smiled widely. "I'll be sure to write down some detailed instructions."

Any further conversation was interrupted by Hinako giggling at Lee and Naruto who were still hugging, "I love you, man"-s littering the air.

"You have my deepest apologies, Naruto-kun," Lee said as he pulled away, pained. "I was so caught up in my jealousy that I endangered our friendship. And after all you have done for us. If it would cause this much animosity, I do not want a family anymore."

"Don't worry about it. And besides," Naruto clapped a hand on Lee's back and gave him a meaningful smile. "You're already part of _our_ family." Lee looked close to tears, and it appeared they were about to have another round of quite manly hugging.

Then Minato all but tackled Gaara's legs, wrapping his stubby arms around a knee, shouting, "Auntie Gaara is, too!"

Even though it really wasn't all that funny, after all the tension that had suffocated any conversation and threatened to tear them all apart, it took Hinata a good five minutes to get Naruto and Lee to stop laughing, and by then, she was laughing too.

And Gaara just stared at the little wonder wrapped around his leg, and his sweetly mischievous smile.

**(XXX)**

**(1)** – This is obviously a reference to the fact that Masashi's Lee always wears a jumpsuit or some unusual choice of clothing. This would be a detail that bogs down the story too much, so I just put a notation. Of course, maybe this notation will just bog down the text too, haha.

**(2)** – I'm not sure what people in Japan give to newlyweds, so this is a reference to the American tradition of giving a newly-wed couple various cooking utensils and small household items to help get them started and remind them of all the smaller responsibilities they will have.

Notes: Begh. This took forever. Not just to write, but to organize. I really had a big challenge this time around, and I have Skitters to thank for that! Not like it really bothers me, though. It was just difficult, because for a whole month I was out of commission because my Grandmother died and I had to go help take care of her funeral, and even after that when I _could_ work, I was either too lazy, doing something else, or pulling an all-nighter just writing down massive amounts of information. In the Word document I'm using right now, the total word-count is 13,187, encompassing thirty pages in 10-point Verdana font. So yeah, I wrote a loooot. Hopefully you enjoy it. I've been a little rusty lately because I've been busy with things other than writing, so hopefully you can forgive that.

And I actually did legit pairings this time. I never thought I would see the day where I would write Gaara and Lee together as a couple instead of just implying they might like each other. In fact, as a joke on this, the disclaimer is the same disclaimer from Maldoror's "Diplomatic Relations," a GaaLee serial fan-fic where Lee is the envoy between Konoha and Suna (Yes, I've read yaoi fanfiction. I rarely do anymore, and when I do, I rarely find anything good. It's all just "wham-bam-thank-you-Ma'am," and all that). The story is very funny and brilliantly written, delving into deep philosophical concepts about love and showing a very authentically-portrayed Gaara fighting years of childhood trauma to try and be friends with Lee. However, it has some graphic content (about three chapters worth) and sometimes it doesn't warn you when it's coming, so if you can't stand graphic material, don't read it. I found the story on a site called "Hidden Village" but if you want to find it, you might have better luck if you just google the username and the title.

And for those of you, my trusty followers, who follow both this story and Raiding His Fridge, you should know that I've already started working on several chapters, two of which must come at a later date 'cause I'm not there in the story yet, and one that I hope to post sometime this week or next. I can't promise anything, though, because I think it'll be another long chapter. Well, I hope, anyway.

Thank you for reading. Please continue to support me! And thanks again to Skitter160 for requesting.


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